Strange Things
by ibijus
Summary: What's the strangest thing you ever saw? Have you even seen lights in the sky or felt uneasy at a cemetery? (the content is more lighthearted than it seems, but if you don't feel even a little spooked I'll have failed)


_Click_

 _"-an win if we-"_

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 _"-ove you no matter how-"_

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 _"-lights in the sky zoomed around-"_

Tao sighed and threw the control to M-21 while getting up from the couch, maybe by the time he helped Takeo with the drinks and popcorn there would be something actually interesting to watch. What was the use of having that huge thing in the living room if there wasn't anything good to watch?!

"We could watch a movie?" Takeo said with a patient smile, handing a bowl to his friend while setting their full cups of cold juice in a tray to easily carry it the short distance to the low table in front the couch.

"It's no good! I want something new, like some series or reality show."

Sitting back next to M-21 with the warm bowl of popcorn over his lap and Takeo taking the free stop next to him made Tao muse about the possibility of taking a nap and hoping to catch something good on tv when waking, but ultimately felt the risk of oversleeping and depriving his companions of his delightful insights was too costly. Now the true question: _why was M-21 still watching that boring alien sighting program?_

"Do you like this kind of thing?"

"No," he said while taking some popcorn. "But once I saw it for real."

Both Takeo and Tao turned so fast they almost knocked the bowl, their wide eyes glued on M-21 after what he said in a nonchalant way.

"You can't just say this kind of thing and leave it at that! Takeo, back me up here!"

The hacker was turning from side to side while dangerously close to _screeching_ , the popcorn jumping dangerously in the bowl. Takeo didn't seem to take things better, suddenly having a very serious look in his face.

"That's not something everyone can say they've been through, did you..." He leaned a little closer. "Did you see aliens?!"

M-21 held his blasé face while watching his colleagues, it almost felt like he was ignoring them as they got more and more worried.

"Don't keep the suspense! 21, don't tell me... They abducted you or something?! To be experimented not only by humans, but by those big headed bastards, I won't forgive them for doing that to you." Tao was biting at his thumb. _Planning._

Suddenly, Takeo seemed to have an epiphany, getting up from the couch in one jump.

"We can talk with Frankenstein, he surely have ways to protect the house where _he_ lives from anything! Even aliens!"

Tao shoved the popcorn to M-21 before getting up himself, and both started pacing the living room.

"Even if Boss didn't even seen one-"

"With how old he is? He must have seen everything there is to see!"

"But what if he didn't? Aliens, Takeo, aliens! UFO! Abductions! Little grey man!"

"They come from above, so we'll have to protect the roof. That's actually a good idea in general, with how much time bad guys seem to spend lurking on top of buildings."

"We used to spend a lot of time on top of building."

"And we were bad guys! Got my point?"

"But we still spend a lot of time on top of buildings!"

"Do you want aliens hanging out in our roof?!"

"Of course I don't want aliens hanging out in our roof what kind of question is that?!"

M-21 was eating his popcorn while watching _Thing One_ and _Thing Two_ argue and pace. Slowly, he lifted the bowl so Frankenstein, standing behind the couch, could grab a few.

"What is going on?"

"I saw lights in the sky."

"Like the moon and stars…? You weren't looking at the sun, were you?"

" **Boss!** "

Tao threw himself on the couch, bouncing on his knees to get face to face with Frankenstein while the blond tried to keep his cool at his employee antics.

"Have you even seen the _big headed grey little bastards_?"

The maniac shine in Tao's eyes wasn't helping.

" **No.** Now you should sit down. Takeo, you can put the gun away... _Where did you get that from, anyway?_ No, wait, I don't care. Just don't keep standing by the window, come and sit."

Back to the couch both kept glancing around like they expected something to break into the house. Frankenstein wasn't amused.

"Care to tell me what's going on? From the beginning, please."

"21 saw aliens!"

Once more, all eyes were on M-21, chewing and seemingly uncaring. Without looking at the others he started talking leisurely.

"M-24 and I were travelling at night in some rural area when we saw a light in the sky, a big one that kept going from one side to another and divided in three for a while. They weren't doing anything, just moving in the sky. We thought it could be something related to the Union, but when we got to the next city people were talking about it, _aliens_ and that kind of thing. The strange thing happened only after we got back to base. Some guy was calling all the agents in the area back and making question about the lights, like where we were at the time and for how long we saw it. I'm pretty sure I saw some calculation going on, but can't tell what they were trying to prove with it. The event was deemed classified and we had orders to never again talk about it. There was even talk about just wiping everyone's memories, but I think it would be too much work so they just let us go. That's all."

The grey haired one turned to get his cup and drink some juice when he saw the looks in their faces, even Frankenstein seemed weirded out about what he heard and it didn't help put M-21 at easy.

"... It's not _that_ interesting."

"Now that you talked about it, I just remembered..." Takeo sounded wary, turning to Tao.

"Do you remember the problem with the sensors that one mission in the bunker?"

It was really strange to see how fast both of them paled.

"I had totally forgotten about it! We had just setting the perimeter of our safe house and I couldn't stop getting signals like there where people walking all over the place, but I was right there and couldn't see anybody! I even feared we had some invisible enemy and Shark threw knives at the places I pointed, but it would just hit air and the signals keep going crazy. I spent hours fixing the equipment, even if there was nothing to fix... We ended up going to another place and suddenly everything worked just fine."

A collective shudder runs up their spines and after a beat of silence Takeo was talking.

"I never had the chance to talk about it, and probably nobody would listen or care, but while you and the other were setting things in the house I took the time to around and check the area. Did you... Did you get a chance to see _the graves_?"

"What graves?!"

"There were so many of them... It wasn't too far from where we would settle. They were just piled up, like there was no more space and they just kept burying people. Everything was covered in moss and grass, and the trees hide most of it. There wasn't anything carved on most of them, and I couldn't read the ones that did have something writhen. I felt so uneasy I almost run back and when I arrived you were arguing about malfunctioning sensors."

" _That's crazy_. There was no city or village close to where we were. There shouldn't have been anyone there for a long time! Just that crowded little bunker in the middle of nowhere."

Both shared scared looks before turning to M-21, whose wide eyes weren't reassuring at the moment. Suddenly the three turned for Frankenstein, waiting for _something_. He had crossed arms and arched an eyebrow.

"To be fair," he said in a dry tone. "You live with three immortal beings. You _fought_ immortal beings with superior powers than your own. Why lights in the sky and graveyards would faze you?"

"Boss is so cruel... Didn't you ever cross with something mysterious? Unexplainable? With so many years travelling, there has to be something that even you can't explain!"

"Well, I can't explain how you can talk so much and never tire. I suppose I saw a few strange things that weren't related to Lukedonia. Or werewolves. Or the Union and modified humans... _I feel like I'm depressing myself thinking about the strange thing that keep appearing in my way._ Ah, there was that one time, let me think..."

He closed his eyes for a second, humming while the tension build with the three sharing the couch.

"I was a long time ago… I was travelling through this forest and felt safe enough to sleep for a few minutes. When I woke my hair was covered in braids."

After some silence the trio understood that was the end of it, showing their disappointment in their faces.

"That's not as scary as what happened with Tao and Takeo..."

"Ah, I think it wasn't, was it? Just strange. I do have to say that I was sleeping at the highest branches I could find, too high for a kid to climb to play a prank. I wasn't ever sure I could be seen from the ground amid the heavy foliage. There were villages close by, but few were the people who would cross the woods at the time as they believe it to be _territory of the fairies_. What were the chances of a person passing by, seeing me, climbing that high tree and touching me and my hair _without waking me up_? There were braids even at the back of my head, were my head was against the tree's truck, like someone had pushed me from the tree to reach it and put me back in place. Nothing like that ever happened again."

"That's a lot of information you had left out, Boss..."

Frankenstein had a playful smile and left himself relax while talking.

"In the end it was what it was. I slept in a forest and woke with my hair braided, no harm done. I even left some empty bottles in that branch before going my way, the colorful glass shone in a way that enchanted many children at the time and sometimes I would give them away as gifts. Whatever force that was there at the time let a traveler sleep and groomed their hair while they rested. Maybe it was lonely. It's a shame that forest don't exist anymore, we could have made a trip there, bring more gift and camp for the night. Bet on who would wake with braids."

Once more there was only silence among them, now followed by the feeling of being small in the universe. Turning to his companions, Takeo seemed to have settled his mind on something.

"All those things we don't understand... We need to protect them from the Union. Ghost, fairies, even aliens. If we fight to protect humanity, we can fight to protect everyone else in this world."

Tao smiled brightly, sharing his companion feeling.

"We can't let the likes of Crombrel and Aris use any knowledge they'd acquire from researching those mysterious occurrences against humans. _The RK won't let such thing happen!_ "

Crossing his arms and holding a resigned smile M-21 nodded.

"If _his_ work is to protect, it makes sense we'd follow his lead. Humans or not, the feeling is the same."

From where he stood, Frankenstein couldn't help but keep smiling while thinking how the kids under his hoof where good even in a world that hadn't been good to them.

* * *

I just couldn't resist! While everyone's lovey dovey with valentines, I had this story building up... Being a modified human must be quite strange, but have you even asked yourself what stranger things M-21 and M-24 could have seen in their short time travelling for the Union?

(talking about "stranger things" I keep telling myself I'll watch the netflix series, but never do aaaaaah the last one I watched was westworld and I liked it a lot, but they'll take more than a year to release the next season?! I'm hoping it'll be the best season of all series in 2018 or I'll be so mad!)


End file.
